French
presidential hopeful Francois Fillon has come up with a plan to help religious
minorities in the Middle East to fight discrimination.

MOSCOW
(Sputnik) — French presidential candidate Francois Fillon suggested 12
measures to help religious minorities in the Middle East, stressing
the necessity to exclude mentions of religious affiliation
from IDs, among other proposals.

"Apply
pressure so that civic rights may be fully realized in the Middle East
around two tangible measures: putting an end to mentioning
of religion in ID papers, the establishment of effective
measures to fight the discrimination against Christians and members
of minorities within civil service," the statement, posted
on Fillon's website on Saturday, said.

Fillon
also suggested decriminalizing conversion of Muslims to any other
religion and promoting the freedom to choose religion for children
of mixed couples. The center-right candidate advocated support
of francophone educational institutions in the region, many
of which are run by religious communities.

Fillon
said on his Twitter that he visited a Coptic Orthodox Church
in Chatenay-Malabry, a suburb of Paris, on the eve of Easter,
stressing that the adherents of this confession suffered from the
"barbarism of Islamic State [Daesh, banned in Russia]."

On
April 9, powerful explosions hit Coptic churches in Egyptian cities
of Tanta and Alexandria, with Daesh claiming responsibility. The
blast in Alexandria claimed at least 18 lives, the one in Tanta
left at least 30 dead.